João Clímaco de Carvalho

João Clímaco de Carvalho († July 1873 in São Tomé and Príncipe ) was a Portuguese officer and colonial administrator.

In 1870, the previous Secretary to the Governor of Macau was appointed Governor of Portuguese Timor , which was subordinate to Macau. Lieutenant Carvalho held the post until 1871.

During this time, Portugal's influence on its colony had fallen sharply. In any case, the area was only controlled through alliances with the local petty kings ( Liurai ). Carvalho, in an 1872 report, divided the Timorese empires into four groups: areas such as Dili , Batugade , Manatuto , Vemasse , Laga and Maubara were under direct Portuguese control. The empires in the immediate vicinity of Dili, especially west of the capital, had practically recognized Portuguese sovereignty. The empires in the interior of the island, such as Cailaco , did not recognize this, and there was hardly any contact with the rulers. And finally there were the empires on the border with Dutch West Timor , such as Cowa and Sanirin , who openly rebelled against Portugal or with whom, such as Suai , had no ties for years. In addition, Timor became unattractive for Portuguese traders. After the drop in tea prices in 1870, no Portuguese merchant ships sailed into Asian waters, which led to the connection between Lisbon on the one hand and the possessions in Macau and Timor on the other being severed.

At least Carvalho managed to end the Balibo rebellion , which had risen together with Cowa in 1865. In 1871 the Queen of Balibo, Dona Maria Michaelia Doutel da Costa, surrendered . As agreed, she met with Governor Carvalho on May 29 in Batugade. The ceremony of submission should, according to Carvalho, be "solemn and follow all formal customs" . The Queen of Cowa, Dona Maria Pires , did not come. Therefore, on June 1, Dona Maria alone signed the agreements submitted to her, which meant the submission of Balibo as a vassal of Portugal. Cowa did not recognize the supremacy of Portugal until 1881.

In 1869 a cholera epidemic had raged in the colonial capital Dili. Carvalho therefore thought at times about a complete relocation of the capital to the climatically more favorable and less unhealthy Lahane , which is a little inland in the mountains. But the residents refused because of the difficult water supply. In Dili almost every house had a well, in Lahane you had to get the water from a river a little further away.

On October 7, 1872, Carvalho became governor of São Tomé and Príncipe. He died here in July 1873. A councilor took over the administration of the colony until the successor arrived.

See also

• History of East Timor

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Boletim da Província de Macau e Timor of May 30, 1870
2. ^ ^{A b c} Monika Schlicher: Portugal in East Timor. A critical examination of the Portuguese colonial history in East Timor from 1850 to 1912. Aberag, Hamburg 1996. ISBN 3-934376-08-8
3. ^ Timor Oriental: Governadores
4. ↑ Geoffrey C. Gunn: History of Timor ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Lisbon Technical University (PDF file; 805 kB) 
5. ↑ World Statesman: Sao Tome and Principe

predecessor	Office	successor
Pedro Carlos de Aguiar Craveiro Lopes	Governor of Portuguese Timor 1870–1871	Manuel de Castro Sampeio